Breaking the News

Summary:
We know Bella's side of the story during Twilight, and we're soon to know Edward's. What about his family, and their response to Edward's newfound obsession with Bella? Edward tells Bella during Chapter 13 that he fought with his family over her, only Alice and Carlisle siding with him. Here's a variety of one shots from that time period.

Notes:

1. Chapter 1- Rosalie Rage

Emmett always got so involved in video games. He and I were sitting on the floor of the living room, on level 684 of the latest and greatest game Emmett had somehow gotten his hands on. So far I, as the alien glob monster, was losing terribly to Emmett’s superior video gaming skills. But if he wasn’t careful, he’d smash his controller again. I could tell he was a bit too focused on destroying my extraterrestrials.

It was somewhere around two in the morning; around the dead of the night, when the rest of the town was in the deepest of dreams. I imagined Bella sleeping, occasionally muttering my name… I longed to be with her at that moment, to allow my mouth to curve upward every time she accidentally assured me she was dreaming of me, and then to desperately attempt to delve into her mind, to discover what she was really thinking…

I pulled my thoughts back to the present. Emmett had destroyed over half my alien army. Though he always liked winning, he didn’t like winning against an unfair competitor. He silently meditated on my failure to create a formidable opposition.

He’s not himself, I’ve never killed him this much before, not even in Zombie Force 500, and I had a huge advantage in that one… Thinking about that human again, Edward? I know your listening. Whatever you’re planning, you better be careful. Rose is already mad at you for even speaking to the girl.

I could sense of bit of helplessness behind Emmett’s thoughts. He had tried to sooth and calm Rosalie, to understand why she was so uncomfortable with me talking to a human. Sure, they all weren’t extremely happy with me—besides Alice, but that’s an entirely different story—but Rosalie had taken the discomfort to a whole new level. She felt personally betrayed, almost. Now all Emmett could do was try to stop her aggravation from escalating. I hated to ignore Emmett’s warning, but I had no choice.

Rosalie was lying on the soft white couch next to Emmett. Her eyes were lightly closed, and her breath moved in and out evenly. She, of course, couldn’t sleep, but when Rosalie was unhappy she tended to sooth herself by reverting back to human traditions. She would close her eyes though we couldn’t sleep, breath often though we didn’t need to; at one point she began eating human food for days, until finally Carlisle had to step in. Now, she was focusing on drawing out every individual breath, like humans did when they were in the deepest form of sleep. She was curled up on her side in a very similar way to Bella… I was thankful Rosalie couldn’t read my thoughts.

Emmett finished off the last of my alien army, and the TV screen flashed “WINNER!” I had to tell them; it was now or never. I quickly searched the house for the rest of our family. Carlisle and Esme were in the study. Alice and Jasper had gone on a walk; Alice had known to clear out of the house before I told Rosalie. Her absence was no comfort to me; the least Alice could do was be supportive of me, not that she wasn’t already attempting to be “supportive”. My eyebrows furrowed as I remembered some of Alice’s recent visions. No, I couldn’t think about that. Right now, I needed to tell my brother and sister what I was planning.

The reaction was instantaneous, as I expected. The white couch was flipped over and flung to the side, and Rosalie was growling and snapping, hunched over as if she was about to attack me, barely spitting out words.

“You’re bringing her HERE!” Emmett slid into a crouch and growled at Rosalie. It wasn’t aggressive, it was a warning. She froze. Her voice was a dagger ripping through me, only to spread poison throughout my lifeless veins (as if they needed more poison). She hissed, “Get out.”

Rosalie didn’t run our house. She had no more right to order me out than the refrigerator did. Nevertheless, I obeyed her. I hadn’t expected much better; in fact, I was glad to see that Emmett had kept her from going completely ballistic. I slipped out the front door and down the porch steps, and in a matter of seconds I was flying towards town, and towards Bella. The screams of Rosalie’s thoughts echoed through my head, and I knew no distance I could manage at the moment could make them go away. I could barely make out Emmett’s jumbled distress, the various scenarios he was running through his head of how he was going to help her, and the occasional Thanks a lot, Edward. I wished more than ever I could block them out. Lately I had felt that I would give anything to only hear Bella’s thoughts and no one else’s. I perched myself on Bella’s window, and then slid in her room, not wanting to block the rising sun from illuminating her face.

She was curled up on her side, facing me. Her scent covered the room, wafting off of everything and anything. I couldn’t ignore the burning in my throat. If only I could erase it! Stop the craving for not only her, but her life! I would need to hunt soon. Only once did she mutter my name. I silently begged for her to say it again.

It felt good to comfort myself in my selfishness. I shouldn’t have been there, watching her when she was asleep, so vulnerable… I shouldn’t have been there at all. But I had made my decision, and I was going to stick to it. I wished I could probe into her mind, to see what she was dreaming of or why she said my name… She was an enigma to me. How ironic! I was so accustomed to being considered an enigma by the humans we were around, so used to knowing everything… How frustrating it was to be in the dark, and how surprising was it that I was so curious in the first place!

Time trickled by as I watched her, and the sun shone brighter and brighter, until she began to stir. I slipped out of her window milliseconds before she opened her eyes.

Edward, Alice’s thoughts softly called me, come here.

Seconds later, I was standing with Alice and Jasper in the clearing. I felt like I had been running everywhere this morning. I imagined Bella on my back, air rushing past her as I ran… the idea was quite appealing. I pushed it out of my mind, for now.

Alice was smiling wide, while Jasper kept his head down, as if he was tired. They spoke out loud for the benefit of each other; I could hear each of their thoughts, but they could hear each others.

“Told you she wouldn’t be too mad.”

“Ya, thanks Alice. I doubt she’s going on a rampage right now. She’s probably forgotten about the whole thing.” My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“It’ll all blow over eventually. She can’t stay mad forever.” Alice could lie to me all she wanted, but I knew she wasn’t telling me everything. Perhaps she had seen Rosalie destroying the whole house? Or leaving and refusing to come back? She’d have to tell me eventually, there was only so much Japanese alphabet she could recite in her head.

Jasper lifted his head to speak.

“We should head back. I can calm Rosalie down a bit, perhaps.”

Alice finished the Japanese alphabet with a flourish.

“Yes, let’s. You were going to arm wrestle Emmett again anyways, weren’t you?” I let the frustration sink into my face at her flippant dismissal of Rosalie’s rage.

Alice frowned. “Edward. It will all work out. Trust me.” Her words were innocent enough, but I understood the true meaning. A growl escaped from my lips as my body began to crouch. Instantly Jasper imitated me, instinctively protecting Alice. All three of us froze, and the tension in the air was tangible.

I looked away from Jasper to Alice, and our eyes met.

Edward… I’m not trying to anger you. We can discuss those other visions later. But know that Rosalie’s mad at you, as well as Emmett. Jasper doesn’t approve of this whole thing. I see the future, Edward, and I know what can and cannot be stopped.

I growled slightly, to remind her that I had no intention of destroying Bella’s soul.

No, no, that’s not what I meant. I just mean that you’ve made your decision, and so has she. You can’t simply ignore her anymore. I know that.

Whether Alice meant to comfort me or enlighten me, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that at this moment, she was trying to be on my side, because no one else was. I understood, and I nodded. She took Jasper’s hand and sped off.

I was in no mood to return to the house and face whatever storm waited for me there. I would have to face my family eventually… but not now. My thoughts turned to Bella, and I imagined how she had looked that night in Port Angeles, a few short days ago. I saw her sipping away at her Coke across from me, slowly prodding until she broke down my defenses. For the second time that morning, I thanked whatever higher power Carlisle believed in that Rosalie could not hear my thoughts. The idea of me revealing what we were to a human would surely send her over the edge… and that was what I had done, wasn’t it?

I pushed the thought out of my mind, and replaced it with the sheer joy of knowing I would see Bella again today. I ran with newfound speed to my personal hell, the boring monotony of high school that was slowly becoming my favorite place in this world.